Ghanaian male clubs stunned in ACCC opener

Accra, Ghana’s male clubs in the ongoing African Cup of Club Championship (ACCC), Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Trustees of SSNIT were beaten at the Theodosia Okoh hockey pitch on Saturday.

The race to win the ACCC tournament got under way in earnest style in the male’s category for the 8-day tournament starting from 20th to 28th January, 2018.

It was disappointment for both GRA and Trustees as they lost to El Shakia Club of Egypt and Niger Flickers by 5:2 and 4:3 respectively.

A sensational performance from Linus Kelvin saw him score a hat-trick for Niger Flickers and another from Endurance Ngozi to dash the hopes of Trustees in seeking a good start to the championship, as goals from captain Salya Nsabini, Samuel Akpene and Johnny Botsio weren’t enough for the Ghanaians, who finished the game with a one man advantage over Niger Flickers as John Michael, was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge.

In the final game for the day in the male’s category, El Shakia from Egypt showed supremacy over GRA in a seven goals thriller as they thrashed the Ghanaian club aside, with some brilliant passes and run on the flanks.

El Shakia, who are the competition’s record title holders got off to a flying start with an Ahmed Moamad’s 14th minute goal, setting the pace for more goals to come as Michael Akuamoah equalized for GRA in the 26th minute.

Gobran Hosarn restored the lead for El Shakia in the 29th minute and Ahmed Moahmed added the 3rd in the 38th minute, in a game that saw the Egyptians play long balls to save energy for their subsequent games.

A Daniel Luke’s penalty corner goal in the 41st minute reduced the deficit for GRA, with Ibrahim Mohammed Sameer’s 50th minute goal and Gobran’s second goal for the day in the 53rd minute required by the champions to finish the game by 5:2.

Earlier on, the defending champions Eastern Company club of Egypt beat the Nigerian Police Machine by 3:1, with a brace from Aboutaleb Mahmoud and another from Rashawn Mohammed with a consolation from Michael Agbaebgu.